The Teamsters union, one of the largest labor groups in North America, is backing its Canadian members in a push to end the steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by President Trump.
“The implementation of these tariffs and the inevitable retaliatory tariffs by Canada will immediately harm workers in both nations,” the Teamsters said in a statement, echoing the concerns of corporate executives and economists who fear the White House’s protectionist policies will ignite a trade war.
The duties of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum were imposed on some of the closest U.S. allies – Mexico, Canada, and Europe – in late May, spurring prompt retaliation. When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters after the Group of 7 gathering that his country, while polite, wouldn’t be pushed around, members of the Trump administration took it a personal insult and accused him of backstabbing.
The international Teamsters organization is joining “our Canadian brothers and sisters in calling for an end to the personal attacks on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a permanent exemption of tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel,” according to a statement Thursday.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said after the G7 that “there’s a special place in hell,” for Trudeau and any foreign leader who engages in bad-faith diplomacy with Trump, though he later apologized.
Larry Kudlow, who took over for former Goldman Sachs executive Gary Cohn as Trump’s economic adviser after Cohn left amid disagreements about the tariffs, equated Trudeau’s statements to “betrayal.”
The duties, which Trump has said are necessary to protect the U.S. economy, have been criticized by members of Congress from the president’s own party. Not only do they worry the duties may undermine the benefits of a massive corporate tax cut, they take exception to the White House’s use of a national security provision to impose them.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than 1 million members throughout the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico.
